Flagstaff’s Gary Krugger had his best marathon on December 9th at the Tucson Marathon where he set a PR in 2:32:02 while winning the race.

He dug deep, puking as he was crossing the finish line, to catch then leader Derek Delancey in the last 1/2 mile to garner the win by 12 seconds. Delancey went on to claim a close second in 2:32:14. Third place male went to John Artley in 2:39:22.

Krugger, RIF #206 of Run It Fast – The Club, had thought his days of PRing by such a huge amount (6 minutes at Tucson) were over

“I thought my days of dropping a 5+min PR were over once I cracked the 3hr mark with one, but my last few have been huge. From 2:48:34, to 2:43:08, 2:38:02, now 2:32:02.”

He is now eying a sub 2:30 time next year, “Yeah, Tucson is such a fast course though. It’s hard to judge what it equates to, but I’m plenty close enough that I can make it happen next year”

Gary went on to describe the Tucson course as, “fast and painful!”

Top 5 Tucson Marathon Male Finishers

1. Gary Krugger

2:32:02

2. Derek Delancey

2:32:14

3. John Artley

2:39:22

4. Scott Griffith

2:41:06

5. John Flor

2:41:32

The winning female was Englewood, Colorado native Heather Utrata with a very impressive 2:41:36.

She easily beat out Julie Brekke who finished under 3-hours in 2:57:34. Third place female went to Mesa’s Amy Sessions with a time of 3:01:40.